Physical Child Abuse Statistics

Physical child abuse statistics are difficult to determine. Though
hospitals do their duty by reporting child abuse and social workers
investigate the reported allegations, thousands of children are abused
behind closed doors.

When severe injuries do occur, the diagnosis of "battered child" is often missed or denied. Even child and youth homicides are not clearly represented. "The numbers of child abuse deaths in Canada are under—reported—the result of, among other things, non-existent national standards and death review mechanisms" (Valpy, 1996, p. D11).

Even in a country like Canada, where there is a duty to report law, many incidents' of physical child abuse continue to go unreported.

The highest proportions of substantiated physical child abuse cases were in the adolescent age group: boys, 22% and girls, 18% (p.11).

Canadian physical child abuse statistics reflect that an average of about 100 child homicides are documented by the police each year across the country (Fitzgerald, 1996, pp. 1-133).

From 1974 to 2000, 63% of the homicides of children/youth were committed by family members and 37% were committed by non-family members; this proportion was constant regardless of the victim's gender. Of the non-family member perpetrators: 37% were casual acquaintances, 27% strangers, and 20% close friends (Statistics Canada, 20024).

The central issue in mistreatment is the misuse of power (Garbarino & Gilliam, 1988, p. 325).

Parents abused in childhood were significantly more likely to abuse their children: this study found a 23% rate of inter-generational transmission (Pears & Capaldi, 2001, pp. 1439-14616).

The breakdown of perpetrators of physical assaults on children and youth as reported to police in Canada in the year 2000 were: 53% acquaintances, 21% family members, and 20% strangers (Statistics Canada, 20027).

Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge the child abuse
stories on this site are true. While I cannot guarantee
this, I do try to balance the need for the submitter to be
heard and validated with the needs of my visitors.